It feels like Independence Day.

And with good reason, 'cuz it is Independence Day. Though most of the university shut down for the holiday, the Jesuit history course went forward with a lecture this morning from Father Tom Lucas, chair of the Visual and Performing Arts Department at the University of San Francisco. Recently in the news for his role in the restoration of Shanghai's Catholic cathedral, Father Lucas has produced some groundbreaking scholarship at the intersection of art history and urban studies - perhaps most notably his 1997 book Landmarking: City, Church and Jesuit Urban Strategy. This week, he'll be giving a series of heavily visual lectures (reportedly including somewhere between 1000 and 1500 images) on the history of Jesuit art. If today's intro is any indication, the next week should be a lot of fun.

To mark the holiday, the Regis University Jesuit Community hosted all the novices for an ice cream social. After enjoying our choice of vanilla or chocolate ice cream with an assortment of toppings, we had the opportunity to watch surrounding fireworks displays from the porch of the Jesuit residence - a porch that affords an excellent view, saying as how the JR (and the rest of the Regis campus, for that matter) is situated on a rather high hill overlooking a valley with the Rockies in the distance. Given that fireworks are both legal and widely available in Colorado, a lot of regular folks evidently invest in outlays of rocketry that would put your average small-town fireworks display to shame. As a result, all evening the whole horizon has been dotted with fireworks large and small, private displays competing with municipal ones on an apparently equal footing. The sound of fireworks going off all around the area has been audible for most of the day - and still is at this writing, even though it's nearly midnight. Coloradans, it's safe to say, are serious about fireworks. In short, we've had a festive and happy Fourth here - hope my scattered readers can say the same. AMDG.